Husky Energy is planning to resume production from the remaining two drill centres at the White Rose field following the November 2018 oil spill offshore Newfoundland and Labrador.
The restart of production at the White Rose field follows an extensive investigation, flow line repairs, integrity testing and approval of the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board (C-NLOPB).
Husky plans to commence an orderly restart
Husky plans to commence an orderly restart of the North Amethyst and South White Rose Extension drill centres at the field and expects to reach full rates — approximately 20,000 barrels per day (Husky working interest) — by early next week.
The move follows the safe resumption of operations from three other White Rose drill centres earlier this year.
Husky Energy CEO Rob Peabody said: “We regret the spill last year. As a result of our investigation, we’ve enhanced our start-up procedures, strengthened equipment and added more barriers to prevent failures.
“The lessons learned have also been shared broadly through the industry to try to prevent similar incidents in the future.”
Following an investigation into the November spill, Husky reported the source of the spill was a failed flowline connector near the South White Rose Extension drill centre, which parted during start-up operations.
However, the firm said it has replaced a flowline connector with a higher load capacity at the South White Rose Extension drill centre in July 2019, as well as enhancing other production flowlines with similar connectors to withstand a higher load capacity.
The firm said in a statement: “Husky has identified and implemented several process safety initiatives and has added additional oversight around critical activities and the process of restarting production. The Company has submitted an investigation report to the C-NLOPB.”
In January 2018, C-NLOPB lifted the notice to suspend operations for the SeaRose floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel and associated facilities.
The firm was suspended from operating SeaRose FPSO following an incident in March 2017 after Husky departed from its agreed Ice Management Plan without disconnecting the vessel and sailing away when an iceberg entered its quarter-mile exclusion zone.
